Liberté Oblige (Liberty Obliges)
by ArieNEU
Summary: My first fanfic about a slave boy who escapes the legion to the NCR.
1. Prologue

Prologue:

Ranger Dennis was bored. Most people back home think being a ranger is all about adventures and heroics, and while it's true that rangers see some action, ever since the Legion has been defeated at Hoover Dam, there have been almost no clashes with the Legion. So when Dennis saw a movement in the desert, he got excited. It was clearly not a gecko, since geckos were smaller than what he saw, and certainly not a deathclaw, may god make a special layer of hell for them, and he was sure it wasn't the legion, since they usually travelled in groups. If he had to guess, it was probably a refugee, flocking to the relative safety and prosperity of the NCR. So he radioed his superior, informing him that he's leaving his post and going to search the figure he saw.


	2. Chapter 1- The Escape

Chapter 1- The Escape

Psst… Psst… child, come here. That was the first words Alex heard in what seemed then as another bleak day as a Legion slave. He came to the old man known as Jack who called him. Jack was a father figure for jack, but it was quite clear he was getting too old to work, which meant that soon he will be killed, no, murdered, by the Legion. "I will get that collar off you, and in 10 minutes, you will run away, and run like the wind, you hear me?" Alex nodded, and after a second said "They will find out". Jack laughed, but not a happy laugh, and said: "So, they are going to kill me anyway, I might as well going to go down defying them to my last breath. And take this", Jack handed him a strange machine. "It's called a Pip- Boy 3000, you put it on your wrist." "Where did you got it?" asked Alex. "From where I came from, it's called a vault." Jack signaled Alex to come closer, worked on the damn slave collar for a short minute and took it off. "Easy Peasy. Now I'm goanna leave and 30 seconds after I leave, you will sneak out, kapish?" Alex had no idea what kapish meant, but he nodded anyway. Jack left, and Alex looked out of the window. Jack came to a legionary and punched him in the face, knocking him down, and shouted "Death to the Legion, Death to Caesar" When the legionaries guarding the slave houses was occupied with Jack, Alex got out, not before he looked around the slave house. The sad faces of the other slaves looked at him, and one of them said, "be safe". Alex got out, crouched and walked around the Slave house, until he found the hole in the barbed wire fence. Just before he got out, he looked at Jack. He was covered in blood, and although he was about to die, he looked at Alex and smiled.


	3. Chapter 2- Dehydration and Immigration

Chapter 2- Dehydration and Immigration

Alex walked through the desert. He heard that the NCR can give people like him shelter and freedom, and that they have taken over New Vegas, so he just followed the pre- war road signs that pointed toward Las- Vegas. Jack told him New Vegas was Las- Vegas in pre- war times. He also told him that once upon a time, there were no slaves, and no legion, but then there was a big war, with rockets that can destroy cities. The thought of Jack made Alex want to cry, but he couldn't. You don't survive as a slave in the legion by crying.

After a few days of travelling, Jack started feeling despair. He scrounged what he could find from pre war gas stations, and he even found a pistol and some bullets, but now his rations were starting to get low. He saw two Legion patrols already, and once a legionary almost saw him. He almost lost his feet to a land mine, which were put down by the legion after the Second Battle of Hoover Dam, when they thought that the NCR will go out of Hoover Dam and chase them. Luckily the Legion was short on mines, and every other kind of technology. But all that won't matter soon, since he was probably going to die from the most formidable enemy in the desert: dehydration. He contemplated for a second giving himself in to the legion, but he preferred dying to go back to a life of slavery. Alex saw a big river, and then he saw a big wall. Alex was happy for a moment, and then he passed out.

Ranger Dennis finally reached the figure he saw, and by the looks of it, he was right, He is a refugee, or at least was. Dennis came closer to the child and poured some water on his face. The child waked up, picked his pistol and aimed at Dennis. In a quick movement the ranger snatched the pistol out of Alex's hand. "Be careful, you can hurt someone with that. I'm Ranger Dennis, nice to meet you". "My name is Alex, are you with the NCR?" Dennis let out a short laugh. "Yes, I am with the NCR. Do you need help?" Dennis extended his hand, and Alex took it and got up on his legs. "Come we'll get you somewhere to sleep."

And so, Alex entered the NCR.


	4. Chapter 3- Post- Apocalyptic Bureaucracy

Chapter 3- Post Apocalyptic Bureaucracy

Alex was amazed from the sheer size of the dam, or at least he would have been if he wasn't too tired to be amazed. He was taken by Dennis inside the dam and was given food and a place to sleep. The food amazed Alex more than the dam. It was rich and nourishing, and it was the biggest meal Alex ate in his life. In the next day he was given some new clothes and an even bigger meal. In the afternoon, after one more meal (Alex was about to faint) and then he was parted from Dennis and sent with other refugees on a train to New Vegas. When the city was in view Alex was shocked. The bright lights and towers Thunderstruck Alex. A voice said: "Camp McCarran" and Alex got out to big concrete field packed with tents and soldiers. He followed the other refugees to a big building. He checked the time on his Pip- Boy, almost five o'clock. He heard that when night came, the lights of the casinos were so beautiful; people would pay just to see them. A soldier directed him to a short queue.

When Alex reached the end of the queue a tired looking official gave him an impatient. "Do you have your documents?" Alex looked puzzled "What documents?" The official gave him an even more tired look and gave him two papers. "Do you know how to read and write?" Alex nodded. Jack taught him a few years ago how to read. At the time Alex thought he would never use that ability, but apparently, life is full of surprises. He read the pages he was given.

New California Republic, Department of Immigration. Below was a picture of a double headed bear. Below that there were many questions that were easy enough to answer, but there was one question that proved harder than all the rest- Family Name. Alex thought about it for a couple of minutes, and then wrote: Jackson.


End file.
